Symposium on Dutch-Baltic Relations in Historical Perspective, Riga (April 2008): Call for Papers

Saturday, 11 August 2007

The Dutch embassy in Riga, Latvia, and the National Historical Museum of Latvia, issued the following announcement on 8 August 2007:

L.S., Preliminary to a formal notification, we take pleasure in bringing to your attention a symposium on Dutch-Baltic relations in historical perspective; we also use this opportunity to a call for papers in relation to this symposium.

Venue

The symposium is due to take place in Riga at the National History Museum of Latvia. The dates are tentatively fixed for April 23rd-25th 2008. The symposium will be organized by the National History Museum of Latvia with support by the Netherlands Embassy in Riga. The symposium will coincide with an exhibition on Dutch-Baltic relations with collections of the Museum of History of Riga and Navigation in Riga, the Veenkoloniaal Museum in Veendam (Netherlands) and others.

Target group and objectives

The symposium is meant for (art) historians, archivists, librarians, museum officials, researchers and all interested private persons. It is organized to exchange knowledge, views and perspectives and to promote research on the extensive and multi-faceted ties which have existed between the Netherlands and the Baltic Area from the Middle Ages up to the present day. Central themes of the symposium will be

mutual influences in the field of art, architecture
commercial and maritime links
political, diplomatic, religious and academic contacts.

The symposium is part of a large-scale project by the Royal Netherlands Embassy in Latvia to broaden the knowledge about relations between the Netherlands and the Baltics. Earlier activities were the book Beyond traditional borders: eight centuries of Latvian-Dutch relations and a travelling exhibition about Latvian-Dutch historical ties and different aspects of the Netherlands, past and present.

For more information on these two projects see www.netherlandsembassy.lv.

Call for papers

If you are interested in producing a paper for this symposium, you are kindly invited to submit a short proposal in English together with a summary of your CV (2 pages A4 together). Papers will be considered for publication in symposium proceedings. The deadline is October 15th, 2007.

Your proposal will be reviewed by a Board of Advice, consisting of

Dr. Arnis. Radins, Director of the National History Museum of Latvia in Riga
Prof. Ojars Sparitis, Latvian Academy of Arts
Dr Elita Grosmane, Director of the Institute of Art History
Drs J.C.A. Schokkenbroek, Curator of the Maritime Museum in Amsterdam
Dr Hanno Brandt, Director of Hansa Study Centre of the University of Groningen in the Netherlands.

After reviewing of proposals by the Board of Advice, a selection will be made and those contributors will be invited to present their paper at the symposium. They will be offered a travel allowance and accommodation. The financial arrangements for the symposium have yet to be finalized, but we are confident that, as with the other projects undertaken by the Embassy, funds will be secured to guarantee a successful and professional symposium.

If you are interested in this symposium, please inform the Netherlands Embassy in Riga, Latvia (e-mail info@netherlandsembassy.lv. For any questions you may contact Wicher Slagter, tel. +371 732 6147, e-mail wicher.slagter@minbuza.nl.